Tropical Storm Isaac Kills 19 in Haiti, 2 in Dominican Republic

The number of people who died when Tropical Storm Isaac swept through Haiti has risen to 19, while six people are still missing, the government said Monday.

Until that report, Isaac was believed to have caused eight fatalities when it hit Haiti over the weekend with strong winds and heavy rains, before heading across the Gulf of Mexico on Monday to threaten Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Haiti’s emergency management chief Alta Jean Baptiste said that 14,375 people had to be evacuated, of whom 13,561 are in shelters.

The two provinces hit hardest by Isaac were Ouest and Sud-Est, which together account for 11 de las 19 deaths.

Among the victims were three minors - a 10-year-old girl who died when a wall collapsed onto her home in Thomazeau, a boy struck by a falling tree in the capital suburb of Carrefour, and another boy who was electrocuted in the northern city of Gonaives.

In terms of infrastructure, the road across the Grand-Goave River in Ouest province was swept away by the waters, while bridges over the swollen Grise River on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince are under close watch.

Authorities also said the storm has inflicted considerable damage on housing and agriculture, while tearing the roofs off a good many homes in the Ouest, Sud-Est and Nord-Ouest provinces.

Isaac was blamed for at least two deaths in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.